COLUMN: INIT
Democracy in the Information Era: Ensuring Free and Fair Elections
By Gabriela Pinto, Jack Thoene, June 2025
By Gabriela Pinto, Jack Thoene, June 2025
Online advertising is at the forefront of election strategies for most political candidates. As advertising platforms shape the targeting and distribution of political ads, the transparency of this process is essential for democracy. However, there are still significant barriers in studying these systems, creating an environment where research can be a challenge.
By Samuel Da Silva Guimarães, Mãrcio Silva, Fabrício Benevenuto, June 2025
With the worldwide emergence of data protection regulations, how to conduct law-regulated big data analytics becomes a challenging and fundamental problem. This article introduces the principle of least sensing, a promising sensing paradigm toward legally regulated big data analytics.
By Leye Wang, April 2022
Dan Keyserling, head of communications at Jigsaw, an incubator within Alphabet, shares how technology can help address global challenges, especially on the front lines of press freedom, political repression, and human rights.
By Nidhi Rastogi, April 2017
How an election promise to develop India's smart cities became an urban concern.
By Rahul Bhatia, June 2016
By Sean Follmer, Inbal Talgam-Cohen, December 2014
From the early 1980s to the present day, the tech industry, the law, and media representations have evolved in tandem, all hypnotized by the myth of "The Hacker"---an ideal coder, stereotyped as an exceptional young white man.
By Sarah Jeong, Colin McSwiggen, June 2014
By Matthew Kay, Dimitris Mitropoulos, Wolfgang Richter, Lora Oehlberg, Lea Rosen, September 2012
Internet startup POPVOX connects constituents to Congress in a play to disrupt the world of advocacy.
By Joshua Tauberer, December 2011
Although public information is open, it is not always easily accessible.
By Harlan Yu, Stephen Schultze, December 2011
The former U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer and the author of Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger and Citizens More Powerful discusses open government and what it really means.
By Peter Kinnaird, December 2011
The difference between aggregating public data and investigative journalism.
By Sarah Cohen, December 2011
Using their technical expertise to bring transparency to the federal government, developers are unlocking data one API at a time.
By Luigi Montanez, December 2011
Technical solutions can provide a skeleton key to unlocking the Internet.
By Dan Boneh, December 2011
By Mohammad Mahdian, December 2011
By Robert J. Simmons, December 2011
By Joonghoon Lee, December 2008